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What is Keychange?

Keychange is an international campaign which invests in emerging female talent whilst encouraging festivals to sign up to a 50:50 gender balance pledge by 2022. Keychange is led by PRS Foundation, supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, in partnership with Musikcentrum Öst, Reeperbahn Festival, Iceland Airwaves, BIME, Tallinn Music Week, Way Out West, Liverpool Sound City and Mutek.

How do I sign my festival up to the Keychange pledge?

Please send a bit of information about your event to keychange@prsfoundation.com

What about Transgender and non-binary performers and professionals?

We will include all trans and non-binary performers in the 50% of women for each festival. This is a pledge based on inclusivity, it’s important we acknowledge and represent all genders, our aim is to address the imbalance between those who are currently represented and those who are consistently underrepresented.

How did Keychange come about?

It began as a European talent development programme for female artists and innovators led by PRS Foundation

The 50:50 pledge was proposed by Keychange festival partners who wanted to show they are serious in their commitment to gender equality in addition to offering showcasing opportunities to female talent.

Since then festivals from all over the world have signed up to the pledge making Keychange a movement for positive change.

Why is the target set for 2022?

We launched the Keychange programme towards the end of 2017 so this pledge was established as a 5 year framework for change.

Keychange is the first collective approach to tackling gender equality at festivals, so we’re starting with specific, measured steps, shaped by the festivals themselves which give everyone a chance of making tangible progress and creating realistic long term change.

We think 2022 is an ambitious but achievable target with time for change year on year.

What’s the current gender balance across live music festivals?

In the UK in 2017, women made up 26% of the line-up in a sample of large music festivals and less than 10% of headliners in a survey conducted in the US.

In our Keychange network some festivals are further away from the target than others. Some are leading the way by having already achieved a 50:50 balance and are using Keychange as an opportunity to promote how they’ve reached this target.

What do you mean by 50:50?

The festivals are making a gender balance commitment which makes sense to their own event, programme and music genre e.g. major classical events like BBC Proms and Aldeburgh Festivals are looking at the number of female composers they commission. Popular music festivals are looking at the number of women on their stages and industry showcases are also looking at their conference panels.

50:50 in line-ups of popular music festivals will be measured according to the number of acts featuring at least one self-identifying woman, transgender or non-binary individual.

We strongly believe that the target needs to be defined and owned by the festivals themselves and we will collate data annually to help measure progress.

Does 50:50 mean even balance of headliners?

Our priority in this first phase is to ensure that 50% of acts programmed include at least one woman/transgender/non-binary. Many of the festivals are going further than this but we want this first target to be achievable and to encourage everyone who’s working on this to be thinking about long term change.

What if one year a festival’s programme is more balanced than another year between now and 2022?

Some festivals will be aiming for an average 50-50 over the 4 years as their line-ups naturally fluctuate around the 50% mark.

Why aren’t you demanding exactly the same data from everyone?

Because every festival is different, conferences, jazz festivals, commercial festivals and independent festivals have control over different parts of their events. We are aiming to improve the number of women partaking in festivals at every level rather than creating restrictive or off putting guidelines. Keychange is about celebrating the efforts being made by festivals who sign up rather than naming and shaming those who don’t.

How do we go about collecting all of this data?

All of the Keychange festivals are signing a pledge and providing data through a central database which we will keep track of over the next 4 years.

Why now?

The momentum building around gender equality across the creative industries at the moment gives us a great opportunity to start pushing for real change.

There’s much more recognition of the gender gap in music than there was before. That’s the first step in this journey; now it’s about men and women in positions of influence promoting role models, investing in female talent, recognising the barriers for women in a male dominated industry and leading change that will benefit everyone. Current Keychange partners are encouraging more festivals to join the gender equality pledge in order to create sustainable change in live music and to show that it is possible for festivals to successfully achieve this balance.”

What next for the Keychange programme?

Between now and March 2019 we will continue to run our Keychange talent development programme with 60 female artists and innovators from 6 European countries.

Meanwhile, Keychange partners are encouraging more festivals join the gender equality pledge in order to create sustainable change in the music industry and to show that it is possible for festivals to successfully achieve this balance.

What happens after 2022?

Based on the interest so far, this looks like it’s a programme that will build momentum over time and will last as long as it takes.

We’ll use the data we gather and the feedback from the participating festivals to guide any further steps the programme might take, whether that’s continuing to focus on festivals or other areas of the music industry.

Success will be the moment when Keychange isn’t needed any more, but until then we will do what we can to promote positive action in the music industry.

Why is Keychange needed?

Representation of women in the music industry remains very low in all European countries. Across the participating countries’ collecting societies, women represent 20% or less of registered composers and songwriters. Earnings for women are even lower and women are under-represented in leadership roles across the industry and on stages at festival programmes. Read more about the gender gap in music via the links below:

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